4 Simple Charoset Recipes

Less than a week until
Seder night means it’s definitely time to start thinking about the Seder plate
foods, including charoset—a mixture
of apples, nuts and wine which resembles the mortar and brick made by the Jews
when they toiled for Pharaoh. This is used as a type of relish into
which the maror (bitter herb) is
dipped (and then shaken off) before eating.

The base of any charoset is sweet apple and/or pear,
walnuts and red wine. Fruit—small dice, large dice or grated, that’s up to you.
Nuts chopped or ground—again, up to you. It’s a matter of taste. Can’t decide?
Make a few versions and have a vote.

Some people like to add
dried fruit like raisins, dates, prunes or apricots, and spices like cinnamon,
nutmeg, cloves or allspice. Desiccated coconut can add another layer of texture, and is a good alternative for the nut-allergic.

I’ve got four
variations for you here, but feel free to play around and come up with your
own.

Simple Chabad-Style Charoset

1 red apple

1 pear

1 cup chopped or ground walnuts

½ cup sweet red wine

Peel and finely dice the apple and pear. Mix in the ground nuts and wine. Refrigerate until serving. Add a little more wine immediately before serving.

Chunky Charoset

1 apple

1 pear

1 cup chopped or ground walnuts

½ cup raisins

½ cup sweet red wine

¼ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

Peel and finely dice the apple and pear. Mix in the ground nuts, raisins, wine and spices. Refrigerate until serving. Add a little more wine immediately before serving.

Smooth Charoset

Use any of these recipes and pulse in a food processor until it reaches a thick paste consistency.

Nut-Free Charoset

1 apple

1 pear

1 cup desiccated coconut

½ cup raisins

½ cup sweet red wine

Peel and finely dice the apple and pear. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate until serving. Add a little more wine immediately before serving.

There’s one major “problem” with charoset—it’s customary to shake the charoset off the maror before eating, but the charoset is quite delicious! So, set some charoset aside in a separate container for later use. Mix it into your breakfast yogurt, or serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

What kind of charoset will you be making for Passover? Got a special family recipe? Leave a comment and share it with us!

Tags

Miriam Szokovski is the author of the historical novel Exiled Down Under, and a member of the Chabad.org editorial team. She shares her love of cooking, baking and food photography on Chabad.org’s food blog, Cook It Kosher.

My daughter and husband are both allergic to tree nuts, I've either left them out or occasionally use sunflower or pumpkin seeds. We don't keep Kosher so I'm not sure if the seeds are permitted for Passover.
Reply

MitchApril 19, 2019

Dessicated coconut is not an alternative for the nut-allergic. Quite the contrary. Many, if not most, people allergic to tree nuts include coconut as an allergen. To offer what you have is tantamount to telling someone allergic to dogs to consider getting a Yorkie instead.
Reply

To David Chester
We read that we are to shake off the charoset in the Code of Jewish Law 475:1. The reason is because the mitzvah is to eat maror, and we do not want to dilute its bitter taste.

But, you ask, what's the point of dipping in charoset if you cannot even taste it? One reason for the charoset in the Talmud is that there was once a little creature that was commonly found in the maror. Immersing it in charoset would cause the critter to die, but this is not a reason to eat the charoset.

About having four ingredients, while it is striking that many charoset recipes have four ingredients, that is not at all integral, and many Jews make charoset from many, many ingredients.
Reply

The charoset is for the "Hillel sandwich," a little horseradish with charoset between 2 pieces of matza.
Reply

Miriam SzokovskiApril 18, 2019

in response to Lynn:

Hi Lynn,

You can replace the wine with grape juice and use the nut-free recipe above. You could also add some dates and cinnamon.
Reply

David ChesterPetach Tikva, IsraelMarch 31, 2015

Shaking Off Charoset
Surely the purpose of providing charoset is to enjoy it during the seder and that means eating it not shaking it off. Can you please explain why the shaking is traditional--I have never heard of it before.

Also the tradition of having four ingredients along with the four questions etc for Pesach, is sometimes violated in these recipies. How significant is this?
Reply